justice's court

Or justice court

noun

Law.

1. an inferior tribunal, not of record, having limited jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, and presided over by a justice of the peace.

Word History and Origins

Origin of justice's court¹

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

Goodson’s attorney said the justice’s court fight “put sunshine” on spending by outside groups.

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The head of the Novosibirsk diocese, who had not seen the opera, claimed in a letter to the local prosecutor’s office that the production violated laws against offending the feelings of religious believers and inciting religious discord, but a justice’s court in Novosibirsk found nothing wrong with the production.

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So the ball is now firmly in the Ministry of Justice's court.

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He is no lawyer, could not try a case properly even in a Justice's court and has no character.

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What was, from one point of view, a matter of as much importance, my business began to drop off; men who had placed their legal affairs in my hands no longer sought me for advice and only an occasional petty case in some justice's court came to afford me a livelihood.

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